Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer
    Twitter LinkedIn
    • FREE Email Newsletters
    • About Us
    • Advertise
    • Subscribe
    • Contact Us
    Twitter LinkedIn
    Podcast
    Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer
    • News
      • Arable & Agronomy
      • Dealership News
      • Environmental Land Management Scheme/Policy
      • Event News
      • Health & Safety
      • Machinery
      • People
      • World News
    • Farm Machinery
      • Amenity & Maintenance
      • Cultivations
      • Drilling
      • Grassland Equipment
      • Harvesting
      • Muck & Slurry
      • Sprayers
      • Telehandlers
      • Tractors
      • Tractor of the Year
      • Tyres & Tracks
      • Whatever happened to?
    • Precision Farming
    • Markets & Policy
    • Profiles
      • National Arable and Grassland Awards
      • Company Profiles
      • Reader Profiles
    • Livestock
      • Beef
      • Dairy
      • Sheep
    • Magazines
      1. May 2025 issue
      2. April 2025 issue
      3. March 2025 issue
      4. 2025 Tyre Developments supplement
      5. February 2025 issue
      6. National Arable and Grassland Awards supplement
      7. January 2025 issue
      8. December 2024 issue
      9. November 2024 issue
      10. October 2024 issue
      11. September 2024 issue
      12. August 2024 Issue
      13. 2024 Drills and Seeds supplement
      14. July 2024 Issue
      15. Cereals Supplement
      16. June 2024 Issue
      17. May 2024 Issue
      18. April 2024 Issue
      19. Tyres and Tracks Supplement
      20. March 2024 Issue
      21. National Arable & Grassland Award – Meet the Finalists
      22. February 2024 Issue
      23. January 2024 Issue
      24. December 2023
      25. Agritechnica Preview Supplement
      26. November 2023
      27. October 2023
      Featured

      May 2025 issue available now

      By Matthew TiltMay 1, 2025
      Recent

      May 2025 issue available now

      May 1, 2025

      April 2025 issue available now

      April 1, 2025

      March 2025 issue available now

      February 28, 2025
    • Events
    • Podcast
    Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer
    Livestock

    World top 10 status for enduring impact of Dolly the sheep

    colinleyBy colinleyOctober 9, 20193 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

    Dolly the Sheep, born at the Roslin Institute on 5 July 1996, has been named one of the top 10 most influential biotech projects of the past 50 years, prompting scientists at the Scottish centre to celebrate the many research advances stemming from the creation of their famous animal.

    “Dolly paved the way to new, innovative research, such as gene editing and stem cells,” said a Roslin spokesman, commenting in response to the announcement of Dolly’s selection by the Project Management Institute, an international organisation for project management professionals, at its 50th anniversary celebrations in Philadelphia.

    “Dolly was cloned from a cell taken from the mammary gland of a six-year-old Finn Dorset sheep and an egg cell taken from a Scottish Blackface sheep. The research was part of experiments to develop better methods for producing genetically modified livestock, reducing the number of animals needed for research.”

    Dolly duly paved the way to new, innovative research:

    Pigs resistant to a deadly virus

    Roslin scientists have produced pigs that can resist one of the world’s most costly animal diseases. The virus infects pigs using a receptor on their cells’ surface, called CD163. Researchers used gene-editing techniques to cut out a small section of the CD163 gene. Tests with the virus ‒ called Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) ‒ found the pigs do not become infected.

    Chicken cells resistant to flu

    Scientists have used gene-editing techniques to stop the bird flu virus from spreading in chicken cells grown in the lab. The researchers, from Imperial College London and the Roslin Institute, prevented the virus from taking hold by deleting a section of chicken DNA inside lab-grown cells. The findings raise the possibility of producing gene-edited chickens that are resistant to the disease.

    Stem cells insights into African swine fever

    Researchers have defined how to maintain stem cells from pigs and how to manage their differentiation into other types of cells. Pig macrophages – which ingest bacteria and cell debris –derived from stem cells were found to be a useful way to study African swine fever, as the cells mirrored the animals’ varying susceptibility to disease.

    Using stem cells to investigate bacterial infection

    New methods to generate masses of cells resembling miniature guts – enteroids – have been developed. Cattle enteroids have been used to show the biological mechanism of E. coli O157 infection and this is now being extended to Cryptosporidium and Salmonella.

    Furthermore, Roslin scientists found that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from horses naturally produce molecules that can fight bacterial infection, by acting directly on bacteria and by regulating the activity of immune cells involved in the natural body defence against microbial infection. These cells are also present in humans.

    Tweet
    Share
    Share
    Pin
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email
    Previous ArticleFighting talk on post-Brexit exports from Welsh meat leader
    Next Article No-deal is ‘doomsday scenario’ for dairy farmers in Northern Ireland
    colinley

    Read Similar Stories

    Red Tractor opens consultation for tiered pig standards

    April 30, 2025

    Palm-free fat supplement helps dairy farms to cut CO2

    March 31, 2025

    Foot and mouth case confirmed in Slovakia

    March 24, 2025
    Most Read Stories

    Kuhn highlights machines available for grant funding

    May 12, 2025

    West Midlands council switches to electric ATVs

    May 12, 2025

    Bunning to showcase spreader range at Royal Highland Show

    May 12, 2025
    Farm Contractor & Large Scale Farmer

    The UK's leading agricultural machinery journal

    Twitter LinkedIn
    © 2024 MA Agriculture Ltd, a Mark Allen Group company

    Privacy Policy | Cookies Policy | Terms & Conditions

    • Farmers Weekly
    • AA Farmer
    • Poultry News
    • Pig World

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.